The York Dungeon

We visited the York Dungeon with a group of friends and had a blast! The actors are absolutely brilliant and really know how to keep everyone on their toes. It’s a great mix of dark history, jump scares, and laughs. 🏰💀 The only downside was that the tour group felt a bit too large, which made some areas feel a little cramped, but it didn't take away from the overall experience. The storytelling and sets are top-notch. Highly recommend it if you’re in York—just be prepared to find out who in your group is the biggest 'scaredy-cat'! 😂 Definitely worth it for the memories (and the hilarious photos at the end)." #YorkDungeon #York #TravelTips #FunTimes

We had a wonderfully horrible time at York Dungeon 😂 highly recommended for disabled people especially as the staff were so helpful and thanks to their stairlift he was able to go around all the rooms in very old building. They even tweaked our time so we were with a big group and had a better experience. Lots of fun and certainly something to remember when they got my mum up taken into the docks. Lovely cafes and restaurants also nearby on the riverside. We parked in the shopping centre car park, but would recommend the one near the river as you could easily walk down the riverside in a few minutes to get to the dungeon.

Really fun immersive experience. Our 11yo daughter loved it. The acting was fabulous and really admire how they included/involved all the guests into the adventure. Another creative was to teach the children about York and its heritage. Highly recommend this for all ages, especially family. Round of applause to the actors and actresses! Buy tickets in advance.

I've been wanting to visit here for years but only ever seemed to visit York for one day at a time so couldn't really fit it in. Having booked a two day break this time, I decided this was the time! I scoured the internet for a few minutes and found a discount code which got me about £20 off the five tickets I needed, so it was a no trainer. Each story covered in the dungeon (Vikings,plague,Dick Turpin,etc) was brilliantly choreographed and acted, with a great mix of fear and humour. I was a little apprehensive taking my seven year old there, but him and my twelve year old both absolutely loved it. No expense has been spared on the set designs. The realism of the carriage in the Dick Turpin story was fantastic, and the witch story was executed perfectly, which made it scary as hell. It's easy to see why this attraction is so highly regarded and hopefully I will return in the future and do the late night over 18 version! Keep up the good work 👏🏼

The Dungeon experience was fantastic — the actors and actresses were fully immersed in their roles! It truly felt like stepping back into the 15th–16th century, making it one of the best places to relive that era. While the experience was engaging, I did feel that the performers could be more inclusive when involving the audience. Our group was small (six pairs), yet we seemed to be the only pair not selected to participate in any scene — something that could be improved. Overall, it was still a memorable experience. We even spent £20 for their exclusive edited photo as a souvenir!

Didn't know what to expect and this just wasn't for me. The website says participation is optional, it definitely was not. I spent more time worrying I was going to be picked than I did enjoying the shows. I would've loved to see something like a sticker system in place to make this more inclusive (maybe a red sticker to say I'm not comfortable being chosen, which would help alleviate anxiety). That being said, the staff/actors were incredible at their jobs and it is a worthwhile experience if you aren't incredibly anxious. Edit: Thank you to the response from the team, in which case it might be better to have your team member check at the door to see if people want a sticker as this would've improved the experience for me who was unknowing!

Such a great experience. I have been before but a long time ago. The actors are great and its really interactive. Would highly recommend. Very scary as you can see by our pic!!

Prebooked tickets - 10.30 am on Sunday there was no queue. The workers were all so lovely, the actors incredibly lively and fun! They pick members of the audience out so be ready for it! Amazing special effects with lights, sound, spraying water etc. Theres a few stairs and tricky walking spots, but they always ask before moving onto the next room in case accessibilities need to be made.

The Jury of us four is out on this one. Firstly it's pricy for what it is - essentially live theatre - where you walk through mostly dark walkways into rooms where 'actors' tell their part of an overall story. It's mildly amusing with a penchant for turning off lights to get a shock factor and it's well - delivered. The script is cleverly written and they link into the theatrics but truth be told while I enjoyed it as it went along I wouldn't return again for free. I don't want to spoil it for those who haven't been yet but one recurring thing; it occurs three times - funny the first time, tedious the second time and downright annoying the third time. If you want discount you'll only get it on line and you need to have booked at least two days prior to your visit. There's no discount for pensioners nor Blue Light workers.

This is fun and interesting way to learn history. The staff were friendly and helpful, front desk person was very good and helpful. The shows were great with occasional scare. The new attraction is great and highly enjoyable. Would highly recommend as it fun for to suit most ages.

The Dungeon is located in the basement of a multi use building, as most places in Europe are due to the lack of space. Its set up like a year-round haunt with actors and dummies illustrating the medieval dungeon acts of torture. The tours are well organized with guides that talk about the devices of torture in good detail but not to the point that its boring. You get a pretty good feel for what it might have been like to have landed in such a terrible predicament. Great fun for the whole family but keep in-mind that it is dark inside for ambiance, plus its in walking distance from the Yorvik Viking Center.

This is my fourth dungeon tour, and it truly lived up to the standards in Amsterdam, London, and Edinburgh. I don't think the poor actors had a clue what a fright they were in for as the group ended up consisting solely of women, ranging in age from early 20s to mid 50s. And while we were surprised and frightened, we gave as good as we got. Like all the dungeons, it follows a theme of characters and storylines, adapted to be historically relevant to its location. They're played by skilled actors, who go all out to make you feel like you've stepped back in time, rather than an exhibit. One thing I would like to see is a cloakroom option. Especially during the bad weather, when you're trailing round a heavy, sometimes soggy jacket.

York Dungeon is a great day out for all ages. You walk through various simulated environments being told kid-friendly ghost stories from the history of the town of York. The tellers of these stories are hammy actors in makeup and costume, like the plague doctor's assistant or the torturer or the barkeep. The parts are all played over the top and are rather entertaining, and the stories are educational. The witch trial judge, in particular, is great fun with the audience participation. It's quite Carry On esque, only less subtle. Some children may find the experience too frightening, but it's not overly gory or jumpy. The special effects and decorations are are rather basic, but do the job. I would say the ideal audience for this trip is pre-pubescent boys, given the emphasis on death, disease, torture and double-entendres.

A great place to go if you have an hour and a half to kill while in Yorkshire. If you're not a fan of jump scares then I would not recommend, but for those brave enough to handle the dark and the great scary acting then you'll a great time! I'll start with the atmosphere, throughout the entire experience it was near pitch dark except for a couple of low lights. This made I t perfect for the actors to sneak in on you and come out of nowhere scaring the crap out of the unprepared. The acting was superb from all involved. Playing their characters very well, especially the man playing he doctor. He was able to stare people out and give a very entertaining performance. Even without those, the history which they share with you are very interesting and will keep you engaged throughout. For some of the attractions they have some special effects which are really well done, especially those with heads sticking on the spikes. At the end you are given a chance to purchase a photo which is taken in front of a green screen at the start of the tour. They're a little expensive, but great to just have a look at the end. To sum up, great atmosphere, great acting, great effects, and good value for your money!

We visited the dungeons recently on a trip to York. I attended on a 'teachers go free' ticket to see what the dungeons are like for school groups. Both myself and my friend throughly enjoyed the dungeons. The actors were good and very informative about the history of York/ England's monarchs. We went at opening time (10am) and a line was already starting to form at the door. We went around the attraction in a group of around 18 people. The attraction was great for adults, good fun. The audience was involved in different sections of the tour, participating in different roles. I did see some younger children on the tour, who seemed a little frightened and upset at different parts ( Jack the Ripper stories). All in all a great hour or two!

A fantastic place to come for a good dose of black humor. I hate the pop-out scariness of similar attractions, but it wasn't too awful here. If you play your cards right, you can hide in the middle of the crowd and avoid being used as a volunteer. Instead of the acting taking a back seat to the scare factor, I was quite impressed with the skill of the actors and the quality of the jokes. I was definitely pleasantly surprised by the way they educated, made you feel 100% part of the experience, and understood the back story of the characters they were playing. If you book an appointment online, you can walk right in with no wait. The typical cheesy, green-screen photo-ops are available as well.

This was super fun and very informative. It's very interactive so prepare for a lot of crowd work. You may be pulled into the show. It's not as scary as people made it out to be. It is however extremely entertaining. It's a must stop for those visiting York for the first time.

Great fun for adults, but can be a little scary for children at times, and the banter can be a little risqué on occasion. But all in all an enjoyable attraction. The only drawback was the party size, a few too many people being squashed into small rooms made it a bit claustrophobic at times. The information given was quite interesting, but I imagine it could go stright over the heads of younger children as sometimes it was difficult to understand what the tour guides were saying, due to the fact they were acting out a role rather than just speaking naturally. Rather expensive considering you just walk around there is very little interaction.

Very good attraction. The actors were amazing and never once broke character when people started acting up in our group. Their improv had me in stitches! The only fault would be the lack of toilets and the small passageways. For somebody like me who gets mildly claustrophobic it needed a few deep breaths. But overall, I would recommend it, it was the highlight of our trip.

The York Dungeon is admittedly fun, but it's also rather bizarre. The general theme of the attraction is horror, and it's mostly a pretty classy waxwork display of torture devices, historic murder scenes and the like, but there are various ghouls and such thrown into the mix, too. It is quite something to go straight from a history lesson on the massacre of the Jews at Clifford's Tower to a sideshow featuring a cackling zombie. Nevertheless, it's entertaining, suitably atmospheric and occasionally quite informative and educational. A fun afternoon out.

This wasn't really my thing, but the girlfriend loved it, and on the day that was all that mattered (grr :( ). It saves money and time to book online first. Take the print out with you, and queue jump your way in via the fast pass entrance. Once inside there are a variety of exhibitions and characters who guide you on your way. The entrance fee with the web discount is a fair price, but on the day tickets are overpriced. The exhibits change regularly, so I afraid I'm going to have to go back soon! A nice attraction and something a bit different too!

York Dungeon offers a bit of scary fun. It is a bit of fun based arround historic events in york such as the plague, tourture practices, mainly bestwed upon Vikins and Christians and vice versa and Dick Turpin. While on the tour there are a few supprises, a hand touching your shoulder at a perticalarly spooky part of the story being told by your guide, ghosts and the like jumping out to give you a fright. It is quite educational but I would beware about taking young children as some of it can be scary. You are in a dark environment and the floors slope and turn so be carefull. Personaly I love the place and can not visit York without going

Very interesting and educational, My trip was let down however by the guide who put far too much innuendo into his patter, especially with the number of children present. A lot of it was very blatant. If I wanted a comedy routine I would go to jongleurs. Hopefully the staff ahve changed since I last visited.

I went reluctantly to the York Dungeons with my four children and we had to queue down the street before we went in as it was very busy. I was a bit worried as various actors kept coming out and did look very scary, playing their part to us, and I thought my youngest child may get too scared. The actors inside are very good and I myself was scared of being tapped on the shoulder or picked on by the Judge. But in the end we all found it a bit of a laugh although some of the torture chamber stories were a bit gory. I would recommend it for a bit of a laugh for not for small children.

York Dungeons is a great place to take kids on a day trip out. It offers history and fact, whilst being lots of fun. It has actors on the route round playing out parts and jumping out on you. It's particularly a good one for boys as it does get gruesome when they show you old instruments of torchure. It is located just on the very edge of the town centre.

Much better than anticipated. The actors were very good and kinda scary. I wouldn't bring 8 year old kids in there though.

We went there last year, we had to queue for a bit before going in and the member of staff at the front kept us amusing throwing insults at people in the queue. he was a bit over the top though. The tour lasts around 45 minutes, I expected to be really scared but nothing really scared me so I was disappointed. The 'people' around the dungeon were so fake looking u just wanted to laugh and I didnt feel I really learned anything so I was a bit disappointed. I thought it was really bad value for money. On the up side it is in York town and there is plenty of other things to see.

I have visited the York Dungeon on 3 occassions now. They do change some of the attractions every so often, which is good for regular visitors. My last visit was only a few days ago. There was no queue so we went straight in. We also used a 2 for 1 voucher so saved £14 there. Some of the banter can be a little bit too much with children present, but on the whole it is quite good fun. Individuals do get picked on to go into the dock at Judgement of Sinners and also to demonstrate the instruments of torture. Both my husband and I have taken part in this and it is not too scary, all in good fun! recommended.

I went a few years ago and it was okay, so went recently to see if it was any better. Unfortunately not. We had to queue outside and it was freezing, so they had an overweight jester outside talking to the queue. She asked where we was from and when we replied she made a sarcastic face which I laughed off but really annoyed me. When we got inside the effects and interior are pretty poor and I only jumped once and that was when I wasn't even supposed to. It seems to have gone backwards. Some of the actors were pretty good, the judge, surgeon, guy in the roman section and old guy in the hangman section. The others were poor. At £15.60 each it is very overpriced for what it is. Had I seen the two for one offer on this site I would still have been disappointed.

Good place to visit if you want a bit of light hearted fun.Don't expect too many hard facts though it's more for enjoyment,with a bit of history thrown in.Book online for a better deal.I don't think it's a place for the very young,but older children might enjoy it.Staff can be a bit annoying but I suppose they're only doing their job.Just a bit of a laugh realy.

York is supposed to be a really haunted city so it's a good location for a day out at the dungeons. I used to go here quite a bit when I was younger and I used to find it really scary. It's mainly scary because people jump out on you and really make you jump. It's about £15 to go in which I think is a slight rip-off but it's not too bad I suppose. Not only are the dungeons scary they're also quite educational as you learn about historical figures from York such as Dick Turpin and Guy Fawkes.

Went today with our 6 year old , some of the actresses were fab , all in all an ok experience but technoligically backward and lacking any real bite , just an old dark place with plastic walls and the lights off , very smelly and some poor videos of not so gory stuff going on. It has its moments but even with a discounted ticked was still overpriced for me , needs updating and bringing into the 21st century ....

This was definitely an interesting tour, a little scary at times. It was a little more theatrical than I expected, but that didn't necessarily take away from it. Personally, I get a little queasy with anything even remotely gory, so I was not particularly fond of all the torture devices and stories, but if you're into that stuff you'll love the Dungeon. I don't think I would recommend it for younger kids. I used a voucher off SmartSave to save me some money on the ticket cost, and I think those are available year-round to use. Still had to queue, but so few attractions are queue-free these days that I've just come to expect it. If you're making a trip to York, this will definitely give you good insight as to what one side of the city used to look like!

A great place to visit, quite scary especially if you have a vivid imagination like me. my husband and I had great fun in there, at one stage a woman with an axe scared me to death and I ran as fast as I could, much to my hubbys delight. Go in with an open mind and a good imagination and you will enjoy it.

york dungeon is great fun, me and my hubby went here on our honeymoon. it was great fun. people jumping out and asking how you want torchure each other. out for the faint hearted. great fun for all. full of history.

I visited the dungen last year and overall found it enyoyable. The tour gave you quite alot of history but i can understand why it would be seen as unsuitable for small children or the very easily offended! we found that a few of the comedy ghost walks around York were much better value for money.

Absolutely love going here. Went for the first time on my 14th Birthday, 2 years ago. Went in almost straight away and it was one of the best places I've ever visited. The actors were absolutely brilliant, Stayed in character the entire time and really played up to their parts. Very factual and learnt a lot at the same time as having a LOT of fun. I am a big history fan, and for anyone who is they should definitely check out The Dungeons. All staff were very friendly and assured you had a good time, they made sure to involve you and even had you playing some of the parts through out the stories! Absolutely love this place. Definitely recommend.